Seen, Heard, Said

BABY BATTLE: Having previously reported to you the remarks made by a furniture-maker about Jay Leno's interviewing habits and a Coast Guard officer's comments vis a vis the forthcoming Bruce Willis movie, we now let you in on what a building contractor has to say about Garth and Sandy Brooks' forthcoming bambino. Contractor Fred Stephenson, who's remodeling the Brooks manse in anticipation of the blessed event, says, "We are battling the arrival of the baby." And if that isn't a cool title for Garth's next song, we'll fold our tent and move on to the next item.

A SINATRA SAGA, PART 1: Years ago, Frank Sinatra donated a 7-bedroom house in Palm Desert, Calif., to Loyola Marymount University. No doubt regretting that they couldn't hold on to the property till the end of time for sentimental reasons, the pointyheads at Loyola put the place up for sale to the tune of $1.4 million in 1989.

AND NOW, A WORD FROM AN UNNAMED SPOKESWOMAN: The spokeswoman to whom we have reference is on Tom Selleck's payroll, and here she is commenting on the possibility that there's going to be a "Magnum, P.I." theatrical movie. "The idea is under discussion," says she, "but there is no script, no writer and there isn't even a basic story." None of these obstacles being insurmountable where Hollywood is concerned, she goes on to stipulate that Selleck himself "feels it's time for one, and Universal is discussing it." Sounds like they've got the basic story right there.

A SINATRA SAGA, PART 2: The Loyola people ended up flogging Sinatra's former abode to a Japanese investor for the $1.4 million asking price. Recently, however, this investor reportedly defaulted on the mortgage.

TRUMP IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT: Ukrainian comic Yakov Smirnoff is going to perform at Trump's Castle in Atlantic City this weekend, and what memorable jape concerning his relatives' inflated idea of his own show-biz fame has he come up with for the occasion? "They thought Donald Trump was my driver." And it may well come to that some day.

A SINATRA SAGA, PART 3: As news reaches us that the former Sinatra pad will go on the auction block this Saturday, we also hear that Frank himself recently performed at the cultural festival in Barcelona that kicks off the Olympic games, leaving this note for the U.S. Olympic basketball team in the locker room they're scheduled to use: "To the U.S. team . . . Bury them!" Fantastic coincidence?

AN ITEM FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY: We're happy to report that Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik commemorated their 25th wedding anniversary in Copenhagen yesterday with a whole round of monarchical festivities. At a banquet Tuesday night, Margrethe whispered these words into the ear of her longtime spouse (and, apparently, into the ear of a nearby wire reporter): "If I should again stand in the church, knowing all that those 25 years would bring, I would give you my `yes' again." To which Henrik replied: "I'm sure that the next part of the cruise with you will give me as much happiness as the previous." Cruise?

THE ADJECTIVE "COOL" CROPS UP AGAIN: Our wire service reports that "Eddie Murphy admits that the ending of his `Boomerang' had to be reshot. `The movie was really cool,' he tells a reporter. `But the ending was a drag. We didn't want people coming out of the theater saying, "Oh, that was a drag." ' " And it is precisely this kind of keen attention to the finer points that makes him a great filmmaker.

SOUNDS GOOD TO US: Neil Simon doesn't want to be a director. "Control has never been important," he says, "and, as the writer, I get to go home early." This is an element of the writer's life that our editors so far have managed to conceal from us.